Carols by the Creek

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:42): I rise to speak today on a matter that members are likely to be aware of, and that is the Mitcham city council's decision last night to continue to host its annual Carols by the Creek event, which has been a popular Christmas tradition for some 25 years, I understand, in that region, providing free family entertainment, with the involvement of numerous community and church groups, as well as media personalities and obviously very many people from the local community.

The carols are a much anticipated event, attracting an extraordinary 5,000 people each year from throughout the council area and even beyond. Last week, the City of Mitcham voted in favour of cancelling the carols, citing that it was 'too religious and not inclusive enough'. Not surprisingly, this provoked a public outcry, prompting council to call yesterday's special meeting, where the vote on a motion to rescind its previous decision was unanimous. This outcome was no doubt at least partly due to the overwhelming backlash in response to the council's actions, revealing just how out of touch some of the decision-makers were on this particular issue in terms of being in touch with ratepayers' views.

Not unlike these residents, when I first heard about the City of Mitcham's position and its reasoning for the cancellation I, too, was disappointed. Christmas is certainly fundamentally an observance of the Christian faith for many people, and obviously for practising Christians, but we cannot deny that these songs and carols that are sung at these sorts of events are not just sung by religious people. In fact, many non-religious people who I call friends enjoy singing the songs, some of whom have no religious faith whatsoever. Indeed, it can form a part of the fabric of one's upbringing. Many people who may or may not have religious faith reflect on these songs as a reflection from their childhood, and it brings back positive memories of their upbringing and their early years when Christmas is a little bit magical, as it tends to be for children.

The carols events held throughout our state always convey positive messages that offer hope and a sense of peace at a time when many need it most. They are appreciated by many South Australians who would not necessarily—or, in some cases, would not at all—consider themselves religious. Like many celebrations at that time of year, they bring families and communities together, promote a sense of goodwill and provide a unique opportunity for various groups from diverse sectors to work in collaboration. In my view, removing such celebrated occasions from the Christmas calendar, religious or not, is ill-founded. It is my hope that all councillors and, indeed, those serving in all levels of government will recognise that the majority of people in our communities do not support such unnecessary preoccupations with overreach of political correctness.

In fact, I am aware that our colleagues in the other place, the members for Elder and Waite, whose electorates have been primarily affected by the proposed cancellation, have been very active in the last week encouraging their constituents to raise their concerns on this matter with the City of Mitcham. These members have personally received hundreds of signatures in response to a petition they created calling for the reinstatement of the carols. This was in addition to countless more emails and calls to their offices from people voicing their concerns and, in some cases, outrage.

It is somewhat reminiscent of a situation a few years back under the former Labor government's education policy pertaining to religious activities in state schools. You may recall at that time there was some ambiguity surrounding whether or not Christmas carols would be allowed as part of end-of-year plays and end-of-year Christmas celebrations. The South Australian Association of State School Organisations (SAASSO) proceeded to conduct a survey inquiring whether people thought carols should be banned, and over 98 per cent of respondents indicated that the carols should be allowed. Similarly, the results from a poll The Advertiser has run over the last few days in regard to the City of Mitcham's carols event is now showing that over 90 per cent of respondents believe it should not be cancelled. Community sentiment on this issue could not be clearer, in my view.

I have been heartened both by the impassioned pleas from the community for the City of Mitcham to continue hosting Carols by the Creek and by its councillors' swift action in righting what was considered a wrong. I take this step of encouraging the councillors for reconsidering their position, which was misguided in my view. I hope that all involved in this production in the future will continue to hold this event with the assurity that it is welcome and, indeed, loved by their constituents and by the members and ratepayers of the City of Mitcham, and I wish them well for the future events.